Pretoria - The results of Egypt's first-stage vote of the People's Assembly will be announced today, the High Judicial Elections Commission said.
The initial results for independent candidates were earlier reported to be announced on Wednesday. The final results of the party candidates will be announced by 13 January 2012.
The Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) on Wednesday claimed that it was ahead in preliminary results on the party's website.
According to official figures, the first stage saw about 17 million eligible voters casting ballots, around 2 357 independent candidates contesting 57 seats, and 1 452 party candidates competing for 112 seats.
The People's Assembly polls are held over three stages, each with a run-off one week after the vote. The whole process will end on 10 January 2012, and the final results will be announced by 13 January.
The elected People's Assembly will be in charge of forming a 100-member committee to draft the country's new constitution, which will then be put to a referendum.
Abu Bakr el-Guindi, chairman of the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics, said the first round of elections was beyond all expectations with a turnout rate likely to exceed 85 percent, official MENA news agency reported.
Among the 50 parties contesting in the elections, the Freedom and Justice Party, Nour Party, Free Egyptian Party and Al-Wafd Party are the promising ones expecting big wins.
